


Poem: The Twelve Dancing Princesses

by PhantomSpade



Series: Fairytale Horrors [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood and Gore, Curses, Dancing, Dark Fairy Tale Elements, Dark Fantasy, Demons, Execution, Fairy Tale Retellings, Free Verse, Gen, Secrets, Sneakiness, Trust, poem
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-12
Updated: 2018-09-14
Packaged: 2019-07-11 14:23:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15974153
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomSpade/pseuds/PhantomSpade
Summary: The King has twelve beautiful daughters, whom he always locked up at night. Yet every morning, their shoes are worn as if they had been dancing all night. So he promises the kingdom and each daughter any suitor who finds out the secret within three days and three nights. Those who fail will die.So a war-torn soldier tries his hand...





	1. Twelve Dancing Princesses Pt. 1

**Author's Note:**

> The Twelve Dancing Princesses (c) Brothers Grimm

His Majesty had twelve daughters.  
All beautiful jewels that he always  
locked up at the dead of night.  
He kept them closed in.

Yet, there was a mystery.  
Every break of dawn,  
their dainty shoes were worn.  
As if they were dancing into the night.

Baffled, he was. No sound at night,  
no sound of petite feet playing  
music with the floor.  
His daughters kept their lips sealed.  
He was determined to find out.

One day, he had gathered all the men in his large throne with a proposal:  
"Any man who unveils the secret behind  
those doors will be promised a hand in  
marriage from each of my daughters!

You have but only three days  
and three nights for this task.  
Those who fail within that time...  
death will be your reward."

Alas, the plan had yet to succeed.  
Each men were to stay in the locked  
room, to see what activities the  
twelve maidens were concealing. 

Yet, each of them had fallen  
pray to sleep, each were given  
a goblet of wine by a fair princess.  
Each had failed to unravel the mystery. 

As the King had promised, death.  
Each men that failed were held down  
like helpless little chickens. The axe  
swung down, their heads were disconnected  
from their necks. The bone and meat  
were visible each time. Soon the axe  
was soiled with the blood of the failed. 

A new man stood up to the challenge.  
An old soldier, emotions worn from the war,  
yet his heart and mind remained strong.  
He had seen the bloodshed, but he had  
yet to see the secret behind those locked doors.

"Your Highness, I have come to accept  
your request. I will be the one to seek  
the mystery your daughters have to  
hide. I promise you by the glowing moon."

With that, the soldier had travelled to  
the wood the day before he was to  
prepare himself. Ahead of him, an old  
woman, dressed in worn silk garments. 

"Young man, I am aware of what  
you are heading, and I have what  
you will need for your task."  
The old begged spoke with promise. 

A cloak, the color of the night sky,  
pitch black and covered with bright stars.  
"This cloak shall hide your appearance  
for when it is time to move."

The begger gave another item to  
the solider: a warning.  
"Do not eat or drink anything from  
The hand of any princess. Feign  
sleep once they had left you."

With that in mind, the old  
solider went back to the castle.  
To prepare to head into  
a sweet dream of hell.


	2. Twelve Dancing Princesses Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Twelve Dancing Princesses (c) Brothers Grimm

On his first day at the castle,  
the soldier was as well-received  
as the fallen men before him.  
Though like those men,  
he wasn't expected to live.

On his first night in the princesses' room,  
he was given a bed with the finest sheets  
the King had offered him. 

A princess, the eldest of the twelve  
with mature beauty, came to the  
soldier with a cup of strange wine.  
"Here, sir. A cup of wine as a gift." 

The soldier, with the begger's warning  
echoing in his thoughts, gratefully  
accepted the cup from her hand.  
When she had turned her back,  
he quickly disposed the drink.

He splayed himself on the bed  
and with a loud snore, he had put  
on the illusion of sleep in the audience  
of the twelve beautiful maidens. 

It had worked. The princesses   
fell for the soldier's deception and   
went to work. They had stripped themselves  
of their nightwear in exchange for   
the finest gowns that put seamstresses to shame. 

There, in the wooden oak floor:   
it was a trap door they had opened.   
One by one, they had lowered themselves  
to the other side of the entrance. 

As the last princess entered, the soldier "awakened".   
He had put on the cloak, and gradually,   
his entire being became one with the   
scenery around him. He was transparent. 

He had slipped through the trap door   
and slowly trailed behind the youngest  
princess. Yet a slip of a foot on her gown  
caused her to cry out, yet her sisters disregarded her. 

After a long time, all thirteen had entered another  
world. Black night sky tinted with red,   
the atmosphere was a furnace in spite of the cool air.   
The forest they walked through was sinister   
in spite of its glittering appearance. 

Silver trees, gold trees, diamond trees,   
the trunks and roots dyed in blood.   
The soldier wasted no time plucking   
off each branch to take with him. 

They had reached a vast lake of red.   
There, twelve men awaited with   
golden boats behind them.   
The soldier saw that there   
were red tails and horns, all pointed. 

One by one, the princesses stepped  
into the boats along with their designated   
prince. The soldier had snuck onto the   
youngest's boat with her beau.   
"Row faster! You are being too slow!" 

Up ahead, a golden castle with a   
sinister air around it. The "princes"   
and the princesses threw themselves  
into the thralls of dancing. The soldier   
stayed back and watched on for the night. 

This charade continued on for three days   
and three nights. On the third night,   
the soldier had acquired a golden cup  
as another token to his collection.   
It was time. 

On the last day, the soldier had   
confronted the King to reveal.   
"Your Majesty, I have unraveled   
the secret behind the princesses'   
bedroom, along with the proof!" 

The jeweled branches and the golden  
cup shone in the King's bewildered eyes.   
The twelve princesses were shocked to their   
core. They had been tricked; their secret was out. 

The King went to his promise:   
"...You have completed the task.   
Now I ask you, which of my daughters   
do you take her hand in marriage?" 

The soldier had a choice in mind.   
He turned to the one princess   
he had his eye on:   
"My King, I choose...your   
eldest and most beautiful daughter." 

Alas, just shortly after he was the heir,   
the twelve "princes" had appeared.   
Their skins a fiery red, along with   
longer tails and sharper ears. 

"The secret has been exposed.   
we cannot let you all go freely.   
For the rest of eternity, you   
will dance even with bleeding feet!" 

The curse was put in place.   
The soldier, the twelve princesses,  
the King, and the twelve "princes"   
danced against their wills. 

They danced, danced, danced,   
even with broken bones,   
even with the need for rest,   
even with blood seeping out of their shoes.   
For all eternity.


End file.
